11 Strategies to Scale Customer Support While Keeping Quality High

Have you ever been a loyal customer of any brand because of its great customer service but felt dissatisfaction and deterioration in service quality after the growth and expansion of your brand?

To prosper and survive in the market every business needs to grow and expand.  So, how can you continue to deliver the same level of care and service quality to your customers after expanding your business? To enhance great customer experience you have to scale the customer support team which enables a smooth relationship with customers and takes care of customer satisfaction in every stage of their journey with you. 

In this read, we will discuss what is customer support, what it means to scale customer support, the benefits of scaling customer support, and 11 strategies to scale customer support while keeping quality high. So let’s take a look into it. 

What does it mean to scale customer support?

Scaling customer support is a process of expanding and modifying the customer support team in order to handle the growing number of clientele and the rise in their queries. Customer support scaling entails adopting a strategic approach to accommodate growth in business, maintain the quality of products and services, and meet the changing needs of different types of customers, ultimately fostering satisfaction. 

When your business grows, it’s a time for celebration, while on the other hand, you have to think about handling and satisfying the growing number of customers. Scaling customer support does not mean you can add more people to your customer support team but you have to think and consider both customer experience and employee. 

Great customer support is necessary for your business to succeed yet customer support is one of the areas that can be difficult to scale. Without customer support, you will not be able to keep clients around you and make them long-term customers. It requires the right tool that can provide the same level of customer support to your growing business prioritizing customer experience. 

Benefits of scaling customer support

Customers want fast service, on-demand customer support, quality products, and service from the brand that they are going to invest in. You can provide all these services to consumers as you have a small level of customer base but it gets tough when the number of customers increases. Some of the key benefits of Scaling Customer support are listed below.

I. Improved customer experience

Scaling customer support helps you to maintain the same level of customer experience even if your customer base is expanded. It helps to generate outstanding experiences for the customer throughout their journey.

II. Increased customer retention

If the customer is satisfied with the provided service of your product, they tend to stay connected with the same products for a long time. Increased number of customer retention can be seen if the client is happy with the service.  

III. Enhanced support team efficiency

When the number of clients is increased, the effort of the employee is also increased. Implementing scaling tactics and technology enables the support team to give their best and work optimistically. 

IV. Added flexibility

Scaling customer support increases flexibility by allowing businesses to respond and take action according to the changing demands and circumstances. Whether it’s seasonal growth or steady growth, by scaling customer support businesses can deal with a vast number of customers. 

11 strategies to scale customer support while keeping quality high

Scaling Customer support includes several strategies to make your customer satisfied and provide the same level of service quality in this dynamic marketplace. Moreover, growing your customer support includes maximizing staff potential, shortening response time to customer inquiries and queries, and providing all the services provided at the present time without burdening the customer support load. 

So, how can you scale customer support while keeping quality high? Here are some of the ideas created through research and analysis to scale customer support while keeping quality high. 

1. Implementation of CRM(Customer Relationship Management) software

Implementation of the customer relationship Management system plays a crucial role in scaling customer support. CRM software maintains quality high while scaling CS. CRM software can centralize customer data which helps to keep all the records of customer’s purchases, reviews, interactions, and preferences. 

Also, CRM software automates tickets and manages workflow, which can divide work among employees and customer inquiries are routed to the right department. Modern CRM solutions offer omnichannel support, allowing businesses to engage with customers’ preferences through email, calls, live chat, social media, and many more which allows for seamless interaction and enhances loyalty and satisfaction of customers.

Moreover, CRM systems contain analytical CRM, collaborative customer relationship management systems, operational CRM, and many types of CRM systems that are crucial in scaling customer support. 

Collaborative CRM systems help maintain unity and gain trust among each other in the company. 

2. Use of automation tools

Customer support agents have to do the same task for every single customer each time. This can be time-consuming for the sales reps, where during the time they serve doing the same task, they can provide service to new customers who have queries and interest in your product. 

The usage of automation tools can help your firm minimize the customer support agent’s effort while providing the same level of service to customers and creating customer segments. Using automation tools includes sending emails, replying to simple and most common queries,  reviews and feedback, and thank you and welcome messages to customers.

 Also, proper usage of automation tools provides services like directing the customer to the correct department by analyzing their query and creating customer segments according to their needs yet you have to update frequently while using automation tools. It can develop optimum work schedules for your employee while also keeping a record of their everyday work. 

3. Appoint a skilled customer service manager

Considering skilled manpower as an administrator should be done in any business that is in the phase of expansion. A single skilled manpower can handle the whole customer support team and manage the organization through knowledge and analysis. 

The more capable, experienced, and skilled the administrator is, the smoother organization management will be. While selecting the manager, prioritize the candidate with experience, the capability of solving issues, analytical skills, and knowledge of automation tools. 

Moreover, the administrator should have good communication skills, collaboration skills, leadership qualities, and the ability to break complex concepts and information, knowledge of marketing and sales. Appointing a capable candidate with experience in customer support is a foundation of success for business in the long run and long-term customer relationships.

4. Self-service options and building a strong knowledge base

Many people like to resolve issues on their own research and knowledge without contacting any agent. Self-service options are the reads, user manual, blogs, description of the product, or anything related to the product in text, video, or audio form which helps customers understand the product.

However, sometimes self-service options are provided but with incomplete information, which can lead to customer dissatisfaction. Thus, while providing the knowledge base to customers, it should contain all the necessary information regarding the product or what data the customer is seeking. 

This strategy will maintain customer satisfaction and reduce the load on the company as the customer will directly solve their issues on their own and the number of calls and messages will decrease. Self-service options should be placed in a place where everyone will get easy access.

For example; you can insert a link in your e-commerce website for common problems, regularly update your channels,  or guidelines for users.  A perfect knowledge base includes detailed, step-by-step guidelines to get the most out of any product. With the easily accessible and perfect knowledge base, both customer and CS agents have a tool for eliminating issues and reducing the time spent on calls or texts for the same issues. 

You can do it on your own and also contact an e-commerce website builder to manage and create a user-friendly e-commerce website. 

5. Implement skill-based ticket routing 

Contact center software that supports skills-based routing can help you leverage your team’s experience and knowledge. Skills-based routing assigns one or more skills to each agent based on their competence. When a new ticket is received, it is immediately assigned to an agent who has been identified as being able to address the query promptly and competently.

6. FAQs hub and user communities 

In every business, there is a situation where different types of customers want to get the same information and raise similar queries regarding products or services. You can take all the common queries and add them with satisfying answers on your company’s e-commerce website where users can read it easily. 

Adding a well-written thorough reply to a common query and adding it to the official website of your company makes it easy for sales reps as they do not have to write the same thing every time a new customer asks about it. They can redirect them to FAQ hubs where customers can get the answers to their query and much more information.

The user community is the place where all your customers and potential consumers gather and discuss your product and service. Customers can provide their reviews and feedback and customer preference where potential customers can know about your product from the users themselves which makes them more likely to trust your brand. 

Additionally, customer support agents should also join the user community to make guidelines on what can be discussed and take feedback on how to improve service and quality. 

7. Provide a proactive message

A proactive messaging strategy can help businesses to save time effectively by providing relevant information before customers are even aware of it. Businesses can eliminate upcoming issues, calls, and queries by reaching out to customers with timely and helpful information. 

This tactic not only reduces the workload of customer support agents by resolving the issues before they escalate but also enhances customer experience as they get the answer before they are even questioned. 

For example, a business can send emails and messages of purchase confirmation, arrival dates of the product, user’s manuals, and provide information regarding products which can result in fewer calls. 

8. Create a sustainable team 

When scaling Customer Support, many changes need to be adapted and the team should be flexible. The customer support team should have great collaboration with each other and know how to convince new people. 

In order to gain success, your CS team, marketing team, and every person should have unity among each other who support each other in their duty and roles. The customer support team is built of trust, unity, harmony, and the supporting nature of every single person in the team.

 A sustainable team includes members who can swap each other’s roles, assign tasks to each other and track performance, offer training to new members, and have open communication. Also, the business needs to support its customer support team and trust in them as they are the route to connect with customers. 

9. Hire qualified and experienced candidates

In the process of scaling your customer support, many new candidates need to be hired who will be part of your company and working together for the growth of the company. Thus, while hiring a new candidate, you should be looking for a person who is experienced in a similar field and qualified.

 Also, you should look for skills like communication, collaboration, ability to handle difficult situations, problem-solving ability, time management, contact management, adaptability, and quick learning. 

10. Analytics

Analytics of Customer relationship management system is the crucial thing in any business that needs to be done regularly to acquire the desired height and expand the business. The proper analysis of your customer data, and behavior, using patterns and data-driven decisions provides much information for the improvement in service and quality. 

With the help of data-driven insights from customers, businesses can predict the future interests of customers, customers’ preferences and provide them with desired products even before contact with the company.  Before scaling Customer Support while keeping quality high, you have to make a very thorough analysis and calculation according to your business size, needs, and requirements. 

Focusing on outstanding analytics should be a priority as everything else you do to grow customer service is dependent on having the appropriate data-driven decisions for different types of customers.

11. 24/7 customer support

In any business customer support should be provided 24/7 as customers’ queries might arise at any time. In order to satisfy customers at every stage, service should be provided to them at any time.

Businesses can deploy chatbots that can answer the common queries of the customer and engage them till the real customer support agent arrives. This service can also be provided every time as chatbots have the ability to route the call to the right sales reps which can save time for real agents to focus and serve the company.

Conclusion 

Scaling customer support is crucial for any growing business. The brand must continually improve its service quality and enhance customer satisfaction to survive and prosper. prioritizing service quality and investing in the right tools and talent, businesses can provide effective service, retain customers, and foster satisfaction. 

Scaling customer support does not mean adding more employees to your customer support team but it is all about providing the same service quality to customers strategically by using different methods like leveraging automation tools, establishing self-service, and many more.   

FAQs

Why is scaling customer support important?

Scaling Customer support is important to meet the needs and service quality expected by customers, enhance customer satisfaction, gain long-term customers, and maintain long-term customer relationships.

What are the benefits of scaling customer support?

The benefits of scaling customer support are: 

• Improved customer experience
• Increase in retention of customer
• Enhanced support team efficiency

How can automation tools help in scaling customer support?

Automation tools can streamline monotonous tasks such as sending emails, responding to common queries, routing calls to the right department, and assisting in data analysis to predict customer needs.